'Abstract, Coral and Blue' by Ray Fink, Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois Design Institute

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Signed lower right, 'Fink' for Ray Fink (American, 1922-1998) and painted circa 1985.

A substantial oil by this well-listed American … Read more Signed lower right, 'Fink' for Ray Fink (American, 1922-1998) and painted circa 1985.

A substantial oil by this well-listed American Abstractionist who studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and exhibited with Harry Bertoia and Alexander Calder.

After serving in the Navy and Army Air Corps during World War II, Ray Fink settled in Chicago, earning degrees from both the Art Institute of Chicago and the Illinois Institute of Design. During this early period, he also exhibited widely and with success alongside many influential 20th century artists including Harry Bertoia and Alexander Calder. In the mid-1950s, he co-founded the Contemporary Art Workshop, dubbed the "Monster Roster", whose members injected passion, emotion and meaning- much of it employing grim war images, into their artwork. The group expressed an emotive reaction to the dominant abstractionism of the New York School. To exhibit this work, Fink and fellow-painter John Kearney opened a countercultural art space in Chicago called the Contemporary Art Gallery. In 1958, Fink was appointed Dean of the Art Department at Arizona State University and moved to Tempe where he continued to paint, sculpt and exhibit into his seventies. See less